Dementia sufferers are facing a postcode lottery of diagnosis, a charity has warned.

In some areas of the UK as few as one in three people suffering from the condition will receive a formal diagnosis, while in other areas three quarters of sufferers will be told by a doctor about their condition, according to data released by The Alzheimer's Society.

Across the UK just 46% of sufferers were diagnosed in 2012, the society said.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the country should be "ashamed" that so many people were being denied treatment which could stave off the condition for years.

"Some even believe that without effective cure there's no point putting people through the anxiety of a memory test - even though drugs can help stave off the condition for several years.

"It is this grim fatalism that we need to shake off. Not just within our health service but across society as a whole.
"It can be a total nightmare getting a diagnosis - and the result is that, shockingly, only 46% of all dementia cases are identified.

"Yet with access to the right drugs and support for a partner, someone can live happily and healthily at home for much longer. We should be ashamed that we deny this to so many people in today's NHS."

An info-graphic detailing the dementia postcode lottery

The charity said that while the latest figure is an improvement on the previous year, there are still thought to be 428,500 people in the UK who have the condition but have not been diagnosed.

This means they are going without the support, benefits and the medical treatments that can help them live with the condition, charity chief executive Jeremy Hughes said.

Diagnosis rates were best in Scotland where 64.4% of of suffers were told abbot their condition. In Wales, just 38.5% of sufferers formally received a diagnosis in 2012.

And 44.2% of people with the condition in England were diagnosed compared with 63% in Northern Ireland.

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Signs Of Dementia

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Struggling to remember recent events, although they can easily recall things that happened in the past

The charity has produced an interactive map highlighting the variation in dementia diagnosis across the UK.

It said that the new data also suggests that the average waiting time for an appointment at a specialist memory clinic is 32.5 working days - more than the recommended four to six weeks. Some memory clinics reported waiting times of up to 9 months.

Mr Hughes said: "It's disgraceful that more than half of all people with dementia are not receiving a diagnosis, and disappointing to see such a disparity in diagnosis rates in different regions of the UK.

"This goes against best clinical practice and is preventing people with dementia from accessing the support, benefits and the medical treatments that can help them live well with the condition.

"Studies show that an early diagnosis can save the taxpayer thousands of pounds, because it can delay someone needing care outside of their own home.

"The NHS has already made a commitment to improving diagnosis rates but more needs to be done to ensure people with dementia are able to live as well as possible with the disease."

The Alzheimer's Society estimates that 800,000 people in the UK have a form of dementia and more than half have Alzheimer's disease. The figure is estimated to rise to a million by 2021.

Initial signs of the dementia, which is caused by diseases of the brain, may include short-term memory loss that affects every day life, problems with thinking or reasoning, or unexplained anxiety, anger or depression.

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Brain Fitness Tips

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Actively challenging your peripheral vision improves brain performance and helps you navigate the world safely.
Recent studies shows that drivers stay on the road longer and have fewer accidents after actively training their useful field of view.

Developing better habits of careful listening will help your ability to understand, think and remember.
Reconstructing the song requires close attentional focus and an active memory.
When you focus, you release brain chemicals like the neurotransmitter acetylcholine that enable plasticity and vivifies memory.

Playing an instrument helps you exercise many interrelated dimensions of brain function, including listening, control of refined movements and translation of written notes (sight) to music (movement and sound).

Heavy crossword players show the same rate of cognitive decline as people who do few crossword puzzles.

Think of this: You can't get rid of radio static by turning up the volume. Many people raise the volume because their listening has become "detuned" -- a little fuzzy.
Matching TV volume to a conversational level can help you catch every word when talking with others.

Practice throwing and catching a ball up in the air.
People who master these kinds of sensory-guided movement activities can hone their brains' visual, tactile and hand-eye coordination responses, with widespread positive impacts for the brain.
This type of activity has been shown in MRI studies to thicken parts of the brain's cortex.

If you're right-handed, use your left hand for daily activities (or vice-versa) like brushing your teeth and eating.
Doing such activities can drive your brain to make positive changes.
Think of millions of neurons learning new tricks as you finally establish better control of that other hand!

Walking on bumpy surfaces, such as cobblestones, improves the vestibular system of the inner ear, which plays a central role in balance and equilibrium.
Cobblestone walking challenges the vestibular system in ways that improve its function, which translates into better balance -- the key to preventing serious injuries.

Mentally rotating the shape of each piece in your head helps brain fitness.

Start paying attention to the physical world around you. Start noticing things and make an active effort to find new details even in a familiar situation.
When you stop learning, your brain stops growing.